Greedy Jackal (Translated from collection of panchatantra)

One day a hunter went to a Jungle for hunting. For long he kept roaming in the Jungle in search of an animal. Having walked a great deal he was quite tired and wanted to rest for a while. But just then he saw a deer herd. He immediately hid behind a nearby bush and remaining thus undercover he aimed at one of the deer to fire an arrow. The hunter’s aim being accurate, the arrow hit the deer right away. Instantly after being hit the deer fell dead. Taking pride at his aim, the hunter approached the deer.

A little later the hunter saw a wild boar. He aimed at the boar’s heart and shot an arrow. The arrow hit the boar’s heart. Although injured gravely, the angry boar attacked the hunter. Using all its might it hit at the hunter’s stomach with its head. Writhing in pain the hunter fell down. Soon, an angry boar tore open the hunter’s stomach with its sharp teeth. The hunter died without any delay. After a while of crying in pain the boar too died at the same spot.

Soon a hungry Jackal arrived at the site of this incident. It saw a deer lying dead on the ground with a hunter and a boar too lying dead nearby. On seeing them all dead, the Jackal was full of greed. He said to himself, “Wow! What a luck ? Today I have got so much to eat without having made any efforts. It’s been years since I’ve tasted a human beings flesh. I will eat him first, later I will eat the boar and then the deer".Just as the Jackal was about to taste the hunter’s flesh, it saw his bow lying near by. Now the bow set him thinking, “ The bow’s string should surely be made up of a sheep’s intestines. I must chew it for sometime before eating the flesh. This will whet my appetite and I will be able to eat more”

Thinking like this, the foolish and greedy Jackal began gnawing at the bow’s string. This at once snapped the string, causing the wooden bow to straighten with a jerk and thus tear open the Jackal’s mouth up to its head. The stupid Jackal died in no time.

Once wishing to preserve the left over flesh for the coming days, the greedy Jackal couldn't taste it even in the present.